Well, WOW.

I remember back when my friend (mein Freundin?) Cheryl told me about her first day of German class: “I learned more in that one class than a month in Berlin!” So what was my first day of German (Deutsche!) class like in Berlin?

It went really well. And even if I knew some of the vocabulary already, learning a few basic questions and the proper grammer for them was way more than I’d learned out on the streets of Berlin by myself. It helped to see them written out, to repeat them repeatedly in front of a group of people and to be quizzed publicly. That helped get them to stick in my mind!

So, what did I learn on Day One? (Pardon the exclamation points)

• Wie heißt du? Wie heißen Sie? Ich heiße Adam!
• Woher kommst du? Woher kommen Sie? Ich komme aus den U-S-A! 
• Wo wohnst du? Wo wohnen Sie? Ich wohne in…Friedrichshain! 
• Wie geht’s? Wie geht es Ihnen? Gut, danke! Und du? Und Ihnen?
• Was bist du von Beruf? Was sind Sie von Beruf? Ich bin reisenblogger von Beruf!

That’s just a sampling, obviously.

What is the my German language school like?

So far, I’m quite happy with the did-institut. While they are supporters of this blog project, I’m honestly quite pleased with the experience. Registration was easy and upon entering the language school on my first day, there was a clear sign pointing me in the right direction. The first class started with a handful of people, but by the time we ended, at least 4 other people had joined. Not sure if they were just late on the first day or registering at the last minute!

Our professor, Herr Wolfgang, was funny, approachable and interesting. He seemed naturally curious about the other students in the class. When we were introducing ourselves and where we came from, what we did, he would start talking in German more and more (words none of us knew), but still not impossible to figure out. One woman from Egypt (Ägypten) was quizzed briefly about the conflict there. I think for our first day of class it was helpful to have a professor actively engaging us in conversation (even if we barely understood) in addition to learning the more boring (langweilig) — but useful! — things.

All in all, I’d say my first day of learning German in Berlin was a success! I was eager to keep practicing afterward—something that was a challenge when self-studying.